Maybe EJ Manuel needs someone to hold his hand. Or perhaps a coach and offensive coordinator willing to take off the training wheels.

Better yet, perhaps the first-year Bills quarterback would benefit from playing against a defensive secondary as weak as his own.

Rookie or not, there’s rarely room to walk before you run in the NFL, a lesson pounded home to Manuel and the Bills in an unsightly 27-20 loss to the New York Jets Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

He may one day evolve into a legitimate NFL starter for a franchise that can barely recall what one looks like, but the kid QB endured a career worth of growing pains in a loss where he was clearly outshone by the only other rookie starter in the league, the Jets Geno Smith.

The numbers told just part of the story, however, as Manuel seemed unprepared to handle the surging Jets defence. A week after a fearless fourth-quarter drive made him the late-game hero, Manuel looked skittish, overmatched and unsure.

“Throughout the game, I just have to relax,” said Manuel, who completed just 19 of 42 passes for 243 yards and didn’t have a touchdown toss until late in the fourth quarter. “That’s when you throw errant passes. It’s a tough thing to handle but going forward I’ll be more prepared.”

Errant passes would be too kind for many of Manuel’s drop backs.. When he wasn’t getting sacked eight times (to just once in his first two games), the 2013 first-round pick was throwing high and wide, particularly on sideline routes where even if a Bills receiver had eluded the tight Jets coverage, the tosses were well off.

In the first half, the Bills appeared too conservative in play-calling as Manuel was unable to get his feet wet. The Jets meanwhile, let Smith loose, lining him up in the wildcat, calling flea flickers and encouraging him to go downfield.

Sure he was picked off twice after awful throws into coverage, but Smith played with far more confidence than his rookie classmate.

Not that Smith looked like a veteran in what was also his third career start. But a 51-yard touchdown pass to Stephen Hill and a 69-yard game-winning bomb to Santonio Holmes in the fourth quarter had to be character- and confidence-building. Smith completed 16 of 29 for 331 yards in helping the Jets move to 2-1 while the Bills fell to 1-2.

Of course, it’s easy to give your quarterback the green light when the opposing defence can’t even provide the basics of pass coverage as the injury and talent depleted Buffalo secondary showed.

Manuel had no such luxury going the other way as the Jets sent wave after wave of pressure on the blitz and stuck to their tight man-on-man coverage throughout. With the running game barely contributing, it may have been a tall test for the rookie, but one that he failed nonetheless.

“We expected (the pressure),” Bills coach Doug Marrone said. “We tried to do some things but we made some mistakes. We had some protection breakdowns. We had some things we weren’t able to get open on.

“There are a couple of things we feel we need to get better at.”

The Bills will have excuses at the ready - injuries, a deplorable effort by cornerback Justin Rogers two name two. And almost incredibly, they actually tied the score at 20-20 in the fourth quarter, despite trailing by 14 earlier.

The comeback wasn’t so much a result of anything the visitors did, however. but rather a near hilarious string of penalties and mental errors from the Jets. Some bizarre calls from the officials and undisciplined play from Rex Ryan’s crew resulted in 20 penalties for 168 yards. On the Bills tying touchdown in the fourth, Manuel “marched” them 80 yards, including a 33-yard TD toss to Scott Chandler.

But 45 of those yards came on Jets penalties and eight times in the game, the Bills turned a third down into first because of a New York penalty. Besides that lone touchdown (and a two-point conversion to Stevie Johnson) the remainder of the Bills scoring came on four Dan Carpenter field goals.

“We have to score touchdowns whenever we get the opportunity,” Bills running back Fred Jackson said. “Scoring field goals isn’t going to cut it.”

Not for an offence and not for a quarterback no matter how experienced.

TWICE BURNED

It was a big day with some big plays for Jets quarterback Geno Smith on Sunday.

But the rookie had a little help from an embattled and injured Bills secondary and one target in particular.

Time and time again, the Jets targeted Buffalo cornerback Justin Rogers, including on a 51-yard touchdown pass to Stephen Hill and the the game-winning 69-yard bomb from Smith to Santonio Holmes.

“It’s real frustrating, especially when you are a competitor,” Rogers said afterward. “I’m as competitive as ever. But its over with now and I’ve got to move on.

“My teammates keep telling me I’ve got to move on. It’s just one of those days. When your teammates tell you to keep your head and move on, it’s encouraging. There’s nothing you can do about it now.”

The Bills secondary was in disarray from the outset Leodis McKelvin was injured early in the first half. The Jets sensed opportunity and made Rogers their prime victim.

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Jets bring EJ Manuel back to reality

Maybe EJ Manuel needs someone to hold his hand. Better yet, perhaps the rookie Bill's quarterback would benefit from playing against secondary as weak as his own.

He may one day evolve into a legitimate NFL starter for a franchise that can barely remember what one looks like, but the kid QB endured a career worth of growing pains in one unsightly Sunday afternoon and evening.

A week after a fearless fourth-quarter drive made him the late-game hero, Manuel looked frightened, overmatched and unsure in a 27-20 loss to the New York Jets.

As a result, in a “clash” of the league’s only two rookie starting quarterbacks here at MetLife Stadium, Manuel was the toddler and the Jets’ Geno Smith the class leader.

Not that the Jets victory showed much other than there is no threat of either team returning here in February for a certain cold-weather big game.

Both quarterbacks may have strong arms, but Smith was allowed to flex it much more on Sunday an